A useful mini golf investment calculation connects the complete opening budget with paid demand, operating costs and the timing of cash receipts. Work through the example below to see why revenue, annual profit and cash payback give different answers—and which inputs you need from your own site.
Start with the complete project investment
Use the amount needed to bring the proposed attraction into operation, not just the supplier’s equipment price. Ask for a written split between supplied equipment, delivery, building work, installation and commissioning. Record who is responsible for each item so an exclusion does not disappear from the budget.
An existing venue should assess the additional project: new equipment, changes to the room, opening work and any income lost while the area is unavailable. A new standalone venue also needs the wider premises and opening budget. Comparing these two situations on an equipment-only basis would understate the new venue’s commitment.
| Budget item | What to establish | Planning evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Equipment and software | Holes, obstacles, scoring and included licences | An itemised supplier quotation |
| Site work | Floor, power, network and building alterations | Site survey and local contractor quotes |
| Delivery and installation | Freight, unloading, assembly, tests and training | Delivery terms and responsibility schedule |
| Opening | Preparation, promotion, training and disrupted trading | Opening programme and budget |
| Cash reserve | Funding for ramp-up and payment timing | A monthly cash forecast |
A cost-scope checklist without benchmark prices. Obtain quotations for the actual site.
Keep a cash reserve visible and separate from the depreciable asset list. A reserve is not automatically an expense, and accounting treatment may differ between equipment, installation, deposits and pre-opening costs. Agree the treatment with your accountant; do not derive depreciation simply by dividing the entire opening budget by an arbitrary number of years.
Build revenue from paid visits and realised prices
Forecast sessions before adding them into an annual total. Weekday afternoons, evenings, weekends and organised groups can have different demand and discounts. Use local enquiries, booking tests or trading records to support the visitor estimate. The annual model needs paid player visits, not the number of holes or the number of times a ball reaches a cup.
Use the ticket price actually retained after discounts and refunds, with tax treated consistently. A net-of-VAT revenue model should use a net price; it should not combine that price with a tax-inclusive cost forecast. Keep party packages and food sales separate where their service costs differ, and do not count an included admission a second time.
The following inputs are deliberately chosen educational assumptions in EUR. They are not NextPlay prices, a customer case, an industry average or a prediction. All ticket and cost amounts are net of VAT; income taxes and financing are excluded. The example includes no additional capital expenditure or change in working capital after opening. Replace those omissions in a real cash forecast.
| Assumption | Illustrative value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Initial project investment | €100,000 | Cash committed at opening |
| Paid visits per year | 15,000 | Base case, not a capacity claim |
| Net ticket price | €10 | Per paid visit |
| Variable cash cost | €2 | Per paid visit |
| Fixed cash operating costs/year | €80,000 | Total assumed fixed operating cost |
| Depreciation/year | €10,000 | Assumed accounting charge |
| Opening days/year | 300 | For the demand cross-check |
| Opening hours/day | 8 | Not a statement of peak capacity |
Educational example in EUR, net of VAT. Tax and financing are excluded; additional capital spending and working-capital changes are not included.
At 300 opening days, 15,000 paid visits mean an average of 50 a day. Across eight opening hours that is 6.25 paid visits an hour on average. These are arithmetic averages, not a tested peak capacity. A course can still queue at a slow hole while selling fewer visits than this annual plan requires.
Calculate profit and cash on separate lines
Ticket revenue in the example is 15,000 × €10 = €150,000 a year. Variable cash costs are 15,000 × €2 = €30,000, leaving €120,000 of contribution towards fixed costs. Deducting €80,000 of fixed cash operating costs leaves a €40,000 operating cash surplus before tax and financing in this simplified model.
Depreciation is then included in the accounting result: €40,000 − €10,000 = €30,000 annual operating profit before interest and tax. Here, the annual operating ROI is defined as that profit divided by the initial €100,000 project investment: 30%. State this basis whenever quoting the percentage. An after-tax return, a return on equity or a calculation using average book investment would be a different measure.
| Annual measure | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Ticket revenue | 15,000 × €10 | €150,000 |
| Variable cash costs | 15,000 × €2 | €30,000 |
| Contribution | €150,000 − €30,000 | €120,000 |
| Operating cash surplus* | €120,000 − €80,000 | €40,000 |
| Operating profit before interest/tax | €40,000 − €10,000 | €30,000 |
| Annual operating ROI* | €30,000 ÷ €100,000 × 100 | 30% |
*On this simplified example’s basis only. ROI uses the initial investment; cash surplus is before tax/financing and excludes additional capital commitments.
The €10,000 depreciation input is an explicit bookkeeping assumption for the example, not a tax-life recommendation. Cash recovery is different because depreciation is not itself a payment in that year. The example’s €40,000 is also not cash automatically available to the owner: taxes, debt service, replacements or extra working capital would reduce or change the amount available in a real project.
Test demand before trusting the base case
Change one assumption first so the effect remains understandable. The table keeps ticket price, variable cost per visit, fixed cash cost, depreciation and investment unchanged. Only paid visits vary. In a real operation, staffing or maintenance may increase at higher volumes, so an expanded forecast should add those costs rather than extrapolating indefinitely.
| Annual measure | 10,000 visits | 15,000 visits | 20,000 visits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ticket revenue | €100,000 | €150,000 | €200,000 |
| Cash surplus before tax/financing | €0 | €40,000 | €80,000 |
| Operating profit | −€10,000 | €30,000 | €70,000 |
| Annual operating ROI | -10% | 30% | 70% |
| Simple cash payback* | No positive surplus | 2.5 years | 1.25 years |
Only demand changes. *Constant annual surplus from opening, before tax/financing; no ramp-up or discounting.
At 10,000 annual visits, the course covers the assumed cash operating costs but reports a €10,000 accounting loss after depreciation. There is no positive annual cash surplus to repay the initial investment in that scenario. The example reaches operating cash break-even at €80,000 ÷ (€10 − €2) = 10,000 visits. Including the assumed depreciation, the operating-profit break-even point is 11,250 visits.
Next test the price guests actually pay, paid staff hours, rent allocation, equipment downtime and repair spending. Lower prices can attract more visits without improving contribution. For a multi-activity venue, compare the additional contribution from mini golf with the contribution displaced from the same area; a larger course is not automatically the stronger financial option.
Plot cash recovery through the opening period
If the €40,000 annual pre-tax cash surplus were available immediately and remained constant, simple operating cash payback would be €100,000 ÷ €40,000 = 2.5 years. That is a steady-state illustration. It does not allow for a slow opening, later receipts or additional spending, and it ignores the time value of money.
Use a year-by-year cash schedule when trading develops over time. The second illustration keeps the same price and cost assumptions but starts with 12,500 paid visits in year one, then 14,000 in year two and 15,000 in years three and four. The resulting annual cash surpluses are €20,000, €32,000, €40,000 and €40,000.
| Year | Paid visits | Cash flow | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening | — | −€100,000 | −€100,000 |
| 1 | 12,500 | €20,000 | −€80,000 |
| 2 | 14,000 | €32,000 | −€48,000 |
| 3 | 15,000 | €40,000 | −€8,000 |
| 4 | 15,000 | €40,000 | €32,000 |
Second illustration: demand ramps up with the same prices and cost inputs. Year 0 records the initial outlay. All returns are before tax and financing.
The project is still €8,000 short of recovering its initial cash commitment at the end of year three. If year-four cash arrives evenly, it takes another €8,000 ÷ €40,000 = 0.2 year, giving 3.2 years in this pre-tax illustration. Seasonal receipts would require a monthly schedule for a more useful date. A positive cumulative balance does not show the best use of capital: compare the project life, later replacement costs and a discounted cash-flow appraisal as well.
Check the site and the assumptions behind the numbers
Validate the installed layout before treating demand as serviceable. Draw the actual holes together with playing positions, waiting, circulation and maintenance access. Check delivery and utilities, then test representative groups through the route. Equipment footprint is not the complete operating area, and dividing annual sales by equipment area alone can exaggerate the apparent productivity of the space.
Measure the sustainable interval between group starts and distinguish groups from players. On one shared route, do not multiply the course’s player admissions by its number of holes. Automatic scoring may change some tasks, but reception, instruction, guest assistance, cleaning and fault response still need a tested staffing plan.
Before committing, replace the example inputs with a measured plan, an installed quotation, local operating costs and a documented demand estimate. Include a downside case and the cash needed during the opening period. After opening, record paid visits, realised ticket price, contribution, staff hours, downtime and repairs each month. Compare actual results with the forecast and update the recovery schedule when an assumption changes.
Calculation methods and sources
The numerical scenarios above are original illustrative calculations. The references below support the accounting-return and cash-payback methods; they do not supply the mini golf prices, costs or visitor assumptions used here.
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Send your measured floor plan, proposed operating format and equipment requirements. We can discuss the layout and quotation scope so you can build a project-specific budget with your own demand and operating assumptions.